Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!

Although I had braced myself mentally, the overwhelming wave of motion sickness that hit me upon passing through the rift was just as brutal as before—no, scratch that, it felt twice as bad this time.

"U... urp...!"

I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to suppress the urge to vomit.

The moment I emerged on the other side, I immediately scanned my surroundings. Various items were scattered across the cargo bay, but thankfully, nothing was close enough to interfere with the rift's high-altitude opening.

Threats… none. Not a single life signature registered within range.

After ensuring the area was secure, I extended a hand back through the rift and gave a thumbs-up—a prearranged signal indicating that it was safe to enter.

Moments later, Eva and Cassandra stepped through, one after the other—only to immediately curl up like shrimps the moment they landed.

Luckily, their microphones were off, sparing me from the undoubtedly unladylike noises they were making.

A few seconds passed.

By the time the rift finally sealed behind them, they had begun to recover from the intense nausea. Not that they had anything in their stomachs to throw up in the first place—so it made sense that their ordeal was shorter-lived.

Right. As for the Range Falcon… we left it behind in World-One. It had been pre-programmed to hover directly above the Eclipse Sovereign, standing by as part of our fail-safe Plan B should things go south.

"You two good?" I asked as they started steadying themselves.

Their radios flickered on, transmitting their responses over our encrypted, private channel.

{Do I look fine to you? I thought my insides were about to spill out…}

Eva grumbled, her usual sharpness dulled by her still-labored breathing. In fact, her voice sounded almost breathy—borderline erotic, even.

{I-I'm fine... I just need a few seconds to regain my bearings…}

Cassandra's voice was steadier, though still tinged with exhaustion.

I glanced at my clock—one that automatically synchronized with universal time.

From the moment we had entered the rift to now, precisely 2 hours and 51 minutes had passed.

Yet, in our perception, it had been a little over an hour. The time disparity was roughly 2.5 times, just as expected.

But something… worried me.

With that kind of time shift, I couldn't help but wonder—how was the Astoria holding up? I had no way to check. The Range Falcon was left behind, after all.

'Anyway, sitting here worrying won't do anything…'

Shoving aside my concerns, I took the opportunity to open a compartment on my Truman Suit. Inside was a swarm of Stealth Nanobots—all synchronized with my suit's onboard computer.

With these, moving unnoticed would be far easier—and more importantly, we could rest without fear of sudden ambushes.

For the next two minutes, we remained hidden among the cargo.

Meanwhile, the nanobots scouted ahead, sweeping through the corridors, mapping potential pathways.

Once the girls had recovered enough to move freely, we wasted no time and pressed forward.

As the nanobots navigated through the ship, any time they encountered a soldier, one of them would discreetly attach itself, marking the enemy's exact position on my suit's 3D tactical map.

In just two minutes, they had already marked approximately 5,000 soldiers—most of whom were clustered together in one large, unmoving group.

"Those must be the ones under your control, Cassandra," I muttered while sharing the real-time map data with them. "We'll need their help for Stage Three of the plan."

{Right…}

Cassandra nodded, her expression unreadable beneath the dark visor of her Siren Suit.

But even without seeing her face, I could tell—her emotions were a tangled mess of guilt and anxiety.

On instinct, my hand moved toward the top of her head, intending to pat her reassuringly—only to remember that we were both clad in powered suits.

Instead, I settled for patting her shoulder.

"Don't worry," I reassured her, keeping my voice steady. "You two planned for this. As long as we stick to the strategy you two devised—and the one I approved—there shouldn't be any problems."

She gave a small, curt nod, though there was still hesitation in her movements.

'She'll be fine soon…' I told myself, choosing to trust in her resolve.

Now, thanks to the nanobots, we had eyes on nearly every enemy patrol.

But despite our technological advantage, we refused to let our guard down.

After all, patrolling soldiers weren't the only obstacles aboard the Eclipse Sovereign. The ship's structure itself was a nightmare—full of tight corridors and intricate passageways—

"Stop!" I whispered sharply. "There's a camera up ahead!"

Right. There were also surveillance systems to worry about.

The cameras scattered throughout the ship weren't the usual rotating type that left blind spots—they were fixed-position, fisheye-lens models with a full field of view, making sneaking past them significantly harder.

{Should I destroy it?}

Eva's voice came through immediately.

Her fist was already clenched, ready to smash it to pieces.

"Are you an idiot?" I snapped, shooting Eva an exasperated look.

"No matter how fast you move, you'll still get caught by that camera the moment you step into the pathway. And if you destroy it, they'll immediately know intruders are here."

{Then what? Stay here and wait for the patrols to waltz in?} she retorted, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

I sighed. Of course she'd be impatient. But I didn't come unprepared.

"Just hold on a second," I said, flipping up a holographic keyboard with a flick of my wrist.

Using the Stealth Nanobots, I tapped into the ship's internal network, hijacking the camera's feed without shutting it down. Instead of turning it off—something that would definitely raise alarms—I looped its footage, feeding it an hour's worth of old patrol footage.

This way, we had a solid window to operate before anyone noticed something was off.

"Done. Camera's neutralized," I announced. "Let's go."

{Your real job's gotta be hacking. No way you're just some random young master.} Eva muttered, sighing in resignation. She had long since stopped acting surprised by my "unexpected skills."

Cassandra, on the other hand, didn't even react—probably because she didn't fully understand what just happened. If you didn't know how something worked, it was hard to be impressed by it—unless it's flashy, like street magic performance.

With the path clear, we followed the 3D Map plotted by the nanobots, disabling dozens more cameras as we moved.

Finally, after several minutes of weaving through hallways, we arrived at our destination.

A massive hall—likely an ammunition storage bay.

The sheer amount of ordnance here was staggering. Plasma-grade gas barrels, missile rounds, even railgun ammunition—just what was stored in this single location was worth more than enough to buy another Range Falcon!

"Should we sabotage these?"

The thought crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it.

"No. It'd take too long, even with help, and it doesn't contribute to our mission. It'd just be a waste of time."

Pushing forward, we finally reached the controlled soldiers.

The scene before us was eerily unsettling.

Hundreds—no, thousands—of men stood, sat, or lay on the ground, their eyes vacant, mouths slightly agape. If I didn't know they were under Cassandra's influence, I might've assumed they were drugged.

They looked like a bunch of zombies.

But we didn't have time to waste gawking.

"Cassandra. It's time," I said.

{Yes...}

She took a deep breath, stepping forward until she stood at the center of the gathered troops.

With a swift motion, she removed her helmet, revealing her striking features. Then, in a commanding tone that echoed throughout the chamber—

"Soldiers of the Meyers Royal Family! Stand at attention!"

As if a switch had been flipped, the once lifeless figures snapped into action. They leapt to their feet, forming perfect ranks and files within seconds.

Their movements were sharp, disciplined, and executed with machine-like precision.

In just under thirty seconds, all 2,108 soldiers had completed their formation—standing tall, rigid, and saluting Cassandra with absolute obedience.

Cassandra's lips curled into a small, satisfied smile. Their reaction confirmed it—these men were completely under her control.

Then, with unwavering conviction, she addressed them once more.

"Brave soldiers," she began, her gaze sweeping across the assembled ranks. "I, Princess Cassandra Meyers, hereby give you a direct order! Entrust your lives to my cause—and help me take down King Meyers!"

"YES, MA'AM!"

Their unified response thundered through the chamber like an explosion. I winced.

'Damn, that was loud…'

And sure enough—

"Five patrol teams are closing in!" I warned, my eyes flicking to the 3D map.

Cassandra paled. "S-Sorry, Arthur… I didn't think they'd shout like that…"

I shook my head. "No need to apologize. We're not caught—yet. They're just curious. They heard the noise and are coming to investigate."

Lowering my head slightly, I placed a finger over my lips—then grinned.

"I… have a plan."

With no time to waste, I quickly explained my idea to the two girls.

{That's… insane.} Eva blinked.

Cassandra hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. "But it's plausible. I'm in."

I smirked. "It's not about being in or out—the plan's already in motion. Get to your positions."

Without hesitation, Eva and I sprinted behind a massive crate of ammunition, crouching low to stay out of sight.

Meanwhile, Cassandra dashed into position behind one of the front-line soldiers.

Then, her Siren Suit activated its camouflage function, seamlessly shifting its colors to perfectly match the armor of the brainwashed troops.

Now, to anyone looking, she was just another mindless soldier standing in formation.

We didn't have to wait long.

Heavy footsteps echoed as the patrol teams rushed into the room. They skidded to a halt upon seeing the assembled soldiers, eyes widening in confusion. One of them, clearly the squad leader, muttered under his breath—

{What the hell…? Did they just move on their own?}

The others quickly arrived, scanning the room warily.

{Check for intruders!} one of them barked.

Tension hung thick in the air as they surveyed the chamber. But, as expected—

They found nothing.

After a few moments, one of them let out a shaky laugh.

{Shit, that scared me! For a second, I thought we actually had intruders!}

Another soldier scoffed. {Impossible. No one can get near the Eclipse Sovereign—unless they're ghosts or can teleport.}

Just as the patrols started turning to leave, a voice crackled over their comms.

{Hold on. You forgot to confirm your identities for the report. State your names.}

The voice was calm, professional—identical to their usual female comms officer.

Not a single one of them suspected a thing.

{Wait, that's part of SOP...?}

{Idiot, just answer. I'm Sergeant Mills of the 105th Battalion.}

One by one, they obediently responded, listing their names and ranks.

All ten of them.

Without exception.

Then—

{Good. Now, join my army and line up with the others.}

The moment those words left Cassandra's lips, their eyes glazed over—and their free will faded instantly.

Just like that, all ten of them fell under her control. I let out a breath, closing my holographic keyboard as I stepped out from hiding.

"That…" I exhaled, shaking my head in disbelief.

"…went so smoothly, it's actually terrifying."